With little snow to show at lower elevations, record moisture has still reached northwestern Wyoming, and with it, early-season slides and fatalities.
On Dec. 20 a skier-triggered slide on Teton Pass resulted in the region’s first reported avalanche burial, partial or full, and fatality of the season. Thirty-one-year-old Jacksonite Nathaniel “Natty” Schneider died six days later, according to a representative of his family, from injuries sustained in the slide on a steep north-facing backcountry area known as “The Claw.”
On New Year’s Day, a snowmobiler died in an accident that did not involve an avalanche in the tri-basin area of Lincoln County’s Salt River Range. The county coroner confirmed that 46-year-old Afton resident Jaram Arnold died on site.
A series of slides took place last week, according to observations posted on Bridger Teton Avalanche Center’s website. One partially buried a skier with a deployed airbag on Dec. 28 in the sidecountry south of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. A few days later, a snowcat triggered a large in-bounds slide near the resort’s aerial tram. Another slide near Togwotee’s Split Rock Creek buried a rider on New Year’s Eve.
The week before Christmas, Teton Pass closed three times in four days after a series of avalanches related to recreation or mitigation work.
Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center Director Frank Carus said recent weather activity has upped the risk of recreating in the backcountry. Though unusual, it’s not unprecedented, Carus added.
“It’s really imperative for people to keep up-to-date with what’s happening in the snowpack, read and understand the forecast every day,” Carus said.
The valley floor has experienced warm temps and a rain line in December that crept up to an unusually high elevation at about 8,500 feet.
Above that line, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort ski patrol forecaster Mike Rheam said it’s been a different story, with near record-breaking moisture levels. Water-logged snow shows up in “snow-water equivalent” and snowfall measurements taken at the mountain’s Rendezvous Bowl plot.
“It was the third highest in 60 years of measuring water there,” Rheam said. The plot recorded 15.1 inches of moisture.
Snow depth was less extraordinary, but still on the upward trajectory from seasons past, at 71 inches. That’s 123% of average snowfall there, Rheam said.
Though the warm temperatures and rain are unusual, it’s not necessarily unprecedented.
A series of wet snowstorms on top of a layer of rain crust and high wind gusts are just a few of several factors contributing to the past few weeks’ unstable snowpack.
This week’s forecast includes a wintry mix of rain and snow down low with the continuation of unseasonably warm temperatures, according to BTAC.
With the less-than-normal start to winter, Carus urged skiers to remain patient until conditions stabilize. He said “pent-up” recreationists from a low-tide season down low and an uptick in outings over the holidays may have contributed to skiers making “some aggressive ski line choices.”
The Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center will host three days of free avalanche education events in Jackson and Victor, Idaho, beginning Jan. 7.
- State of the Snowpack: 6 – 8:00 p.m. on Jan. 7 at Headwall Sports in Jackson.
- State of the Snowpack: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 8 at Highpoint Cider in Victor, Idaho.
- Moto Avalanche Night: 5 – 7:00 p.m. on Jan. 9 at The Virginian Lodge in Jackson.
The American Avalanche Institute uploads a database of avalanche education classes hosted around the region.
